Of course rents are soaring. The “pandemic” gave people months and months of free rent before they moved to tents by the freeway. Landlords have no way to get that money back but they still have the mortgage expenses and taxes to pay. Did anyone give landlords a moratorium on mortgage and tax payments?
Landlords can raise rents as high as they want—as long as renters are willing to pay it....
That can vary market by market, what folks can afford and what alternatives are available to them.
What landlords want and what they can get are two different things...many landlords have learned that lesson the hard way.
Actually, landlords DO have a way they could get it back, had they done certain things when COVID fell upon us ... and most did. The cost of an apartment complex has increased during the last year at a truly astronomical rate. A year ago I was looking at complexes in the 5.5 to 5.9 cap range, which today are going in the 4.5 to 4 cap range. What that means is that a complex with an NOI of $1MM a year ago would sell for between $16.95M and $18.2M. Today that same complex would sell for between $22.2M and $25M.